Specialist Leaders in
Education
Initial Briefing Session
Wednesday 24th April 2014
Eligibility Criteria
• Hold a middle or senior leadership role.
• Have a subject specialism, included in the list.
• Although you need to be an ‘outstanding’ leader,
you do not need to come from an outstanding
school as long as your school has the capacity to
release you.
• SLEs can come from all phases of Education.
Specialism
You must have at least one specialism from our areas of expertise, which are
based on the 4 areas of focus for Ofsted.
Ofsted focus
Leadership and management
Areas of expertise
Academies and academy transition; assessment;
leadership of continuing professional development;
school business management and financial
management; leadership of curriculum
Pupil achievement
Art; closing the gap; drama; design and technology;
early years; English; geography; history; information
and communication technology; maths; modern foreign
languages; music; phonics; physical education;
personal, social and health education; religious
education; science; special educational needs; support
for the most able pupils
Quality of teaching
Initial teacher training and newly qualified teacher
development
Behaviour and safety
Behaviour and discipline; attendance
Skills…
SLEs will have:
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• the ability to utilise high levels of emotional
intelligence to work sensitively and collaboratively
with colleagues.
• an understanding of what constitutes
‘outstanding’ in their field of expertise and the
ability/confidence to articulate this.
Experience
SLE’s will:
• be outstanding middle or senior leaders with at
least 2 years’ experience and a first class
knowledge in a particular field of expertise.
Track record
SLEs will have:
• a successful track record, supported by
substantial impact evidence, of working effectively
within their own and/or across a group of schools,
or working with a range of leaders within a single
school.
• evidence of successfully using coaching and/or
facilitation skills to bring about sustainable
improvements.
Supporting Evidence
You can also provide supporting evidence gained from
completing leadership development opportunities such as:
the National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership
the National Professional Qualification for Middle Leadership
There is no cost to apply. Successful applicants will be entitled
to some training at no cost to their school. However, the
school will have to pay for associated travel or supply cover.
Capacity and Commitment
SLEs will:
• have a commitment to outreach work and the capacity to undertake
such work.
• be supported in their application by their head teacher.
•The role lasts for 4 years, at which time there will be a review. The
types of placements will vary. For example, one might be a 2 day
diagnostic exercise, while another might require a 3 month, full time
support role. Time may be taken as a block of consecutive days or
spread over a longer period.
•There is no minimum or maximum time commitment. You and your
school will need to think carefully about capacity and negotiate your
availability together.
How it works?
Allocation to a teaching
schools alliance
Select teaching school
Teaching schools are responsible for
designating, brokering deployments
and providing on-going support.
Core training day
This is a compulsory day that all newly
designated SLEs attend. It provides you with
essential information about the role and will
equip you with tools and techniques for
effective school to school support.
Additional training sessions
A menu of optional training opportunities is
offered, with each one taking the form of 1 or 2
enrichment sessions. The SLEs are entitled to
attend up to 2 of these sessions at no cost.
Deployment to support
others
The core role is to support leaders in other
schools, helping them to develop leadership
capacity that will ultimately improve outcomes
for children. Each deployment will be tailormade to meet the needs of the supported
school.
How it works?
Access to on-going support
and training
The Teaching school alliance will ensure that all
SLEs are supported as and when required. The
National College team will be on hand to
answer any queries.
Additional Opportunities
As well as supporting other schools, we expect
that SLEs will also be able to engage with other
opportunities and areas of work. For example,
to undertake research projects on behalf of
teaching schools, or engage with national
policy-makers in relation to particular
specialisms.
How do I apply?
• The next application round (cohort 5) opened on:
Monday 5th May until Friday 23rd May.
• Refer to ‘Application Guidance’ document.
• Refer to ‘Application and reference form’
(EXAMPLE- 2 parts to the application)
• Must meet ‘Eligibility Criteria’.
• Select a teaching school that meets your needsSt Mary and St Thomas CE Primary Alliance or
Ex Terra Lucem Alliance (Bleak Hill Primary
School)
Key dates…
Activity
Date
Application round opens
5 May 2014
Application round closes
23 May 2014
Assessment and interviews
26 May to 27 June 2014
Submission of recommendations and
validation
30 June 2014 to 8 July 2014
Notification of outcome
18 July 2014
Training
September and October 2014
Assessment Day/Quality Assurance
Teaching schools are responsible for the quality assurance of SLEs.
Ultimately this means that we hold responsibility for ensuring that the
SLEs who are being designated are providing high quality support to
others, and that this support is having a positive impact. We are also
responsible for reviewing the designation of any SLEs whose work does
not ensure sufficiently high quality outcomes.
Assessment Process (Recruitment)
• Letter to invite, phone call to confirm- WB: 2nd June.
• Lesson Observation- At an alliance school, teach your subject
specialism. More details to follow… WB: 9th June- 16th June.
• Formal interview- 10 min presentation (title given) followed by 20 min
questions WB: 23rd June.
•
Informed of decision: by 18th July.
Funding
There are no plans (nationally) to have an SLE pay
spine or to provide formal financial reward for
individual SLEs.
However…
School will receive £200.00- £50.00 to go directly
to SLE, this could be negotiated as a ‘one off’
payment.
Benefits 
• Fantastic CPD opportunity- professional development run
by schools for schools.
• An opportunity to visit other schools and ‘magpie’.
• Career development opportunities.
• Newly recognised qualification for SLT/middle leaders.
• Leadership training through National College.
• Additional CPD opportunities- offered 1st.
• An opportunity to be involved in ‘Research and
development’ that will benefit you and your school in being
able to shape the future of education!
What an SLE does…
Specialist leaders of education focus on developing leadership capacity. While
other roles (for example, advanced skills teachers) focused on developing
classroom expertise, this role is about developing other leaders so that they have
the skills to lead their own teams and improve practice in their own schools.
This may be done through one-to-one or group support and could involve a variety
of activities, such as:
data analysis
coaching
facilitating and training
joint action planning
If selected, you will be expected to provide evidence that your work has had a
positive impact on outcomes for children and young people by developing
leadership capacity in other schools.
Read case studies that give examples of the type of work being done by specialist
leaders of education.
Pen Portrait
See examples…
Contact Information
Lisa Bradshaw (Director of the St Helens Teaching Schools Alliance)
lisa.bradshaw@sthelens.org.uk or 01744 678010/01744 678190
Sarah Makin (TSA admin) sarah.makin@sthelens.org.uk or 01744
678010/01744 678190
For further information about specialist leaders of education, please
email sle.enquiries@education.gsi.gov.uk or contact our help desk.
Emailcollege.enquiries@bt.com
Telephone 0345 609 0009
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm GMT, excluding UK bank
holidays.